Opinion: Why the season ticket “deal” feels like a rip-off

After two horrible losses by the CU football team, I am feeling good about my decision not to buy season tickets. It seemed like a good deal before the season started, but now looks like a big waste of money.

As a transfer student with last semester being my first, I was excited for my first Division I college football experience. Boy, did that excitement get crushed fast.

The student season ticket deal seemed like a good idea. $175 for all football and basketball home games. What a deal! I’m so glad I didn’t take the bait.

Students cheer after the Buffs score during the opening minutes of Colorado’s Feb. 26 win over Cal, 70-57, in this file photo. CU won the Pac-12 Championship in basketball last year, but does that mean you should buy season tickets? (CU Independent File/James Bradbury)

It’s only $100 for just basketball games, and that is such a better deal considering our team’s ability to actually win. Why should I spend my hard-earned $75 to watch the football team go 0-12? Now I’m sure that before the season, people buying tickets thought that we were going to beat Colorado State and Sacramento State, but that still meant $75 for just two likely wins.

It’s sad that we are only two games into the football season, and I am already looking forward to basketball. While I’m at it, the soccer and volleyball teams are also having good seasons, and they are free to watch.

Before the season started, I thought the football team was going to win those two games, but I was already skeptical about the other ten games. Now, after two losses, I am hard pressed to find a win while looking at their schedule.

I do believe in Jon Embree and think that the program is headed in the right direction. In three or four years, we might even be good. Maybe. That doesn’t help me for the two years when I get the student deal on season tickets though.

Even the experience and fun one can have in the student section doesn’t make up for the 50 point shellacking the University of Southern California will give us on Oct. 20. That’s just a little foreshadowing.

The first two games weren’t that fun. I paid $75 to get ridiculed by Rams fans. That doesn’t sound like fun to me. And then to lose to an FCS team. It’s ridiculous – that’s the only way I can think to describe it.

Now, I will always root for the Buffs and will still attend games this year, but I’ll probably go more for the atmosphere than for what’s happening on the field. If it starts getting ugly on Folsom Field, at least we have a beautiful view of the mountains to look at. Still, $175 seems a little steep for a view of the mountains — which is why I’m glad I didn’t buy season tickets.

Contact CU Independent Staff Writer Scott Annis at Robert.annis@colorado.edu.